Discussion thread -- seventy-five word challenge September 2013

While I take a break from finishing my Sekrit Santa II story, and wait for my rice to cook, I thought I'd summarise (justify) my 75 worder. :eek:

Wernher von Braun (as I'm sure you know) was the father of Hitler's V - weapons which are something I have loved since I was a kid - mostly the V1 Doodlebugs - if 'loved' doesn't make me out to be some kind of weirdo.

Anyway, he was born in the year the Titanic sunk and I wanted to make out that Daddy von Braun had been responsible, and that Wernher had found the plans by listening to his daddy's reel-to-reel, then developed them for the Nazis. Reel-to-reel was - I think - first invented in the 2nd World War by AGFA (perhaps Chrispy can correct me on this) which gave me another anachronism to add into the mix.

In addition to all this, the entry first started out as a comedy-ish piece with Wernher being Irish and referencing Mrs Brown's Boys (a BBC TV show) but that fell by the wayside early on as 75 words was just too much.

I find lately that I'm really tanking at the 75 worders (not that I ever won - having committed TJ's charts to memory); I thought Hex's combination of theme and genre were an inspired choice but I just couldn't synthesise the idea I wanted. The last thing I turned out that I was actually pleased with was my Feline Noir entry and god knows how far back that was.

Whinge whinge bl**dy whinge, eh?

Oh, and thank you, Your Honour, but I fear my award nomination would be more accurate as Levite-of-the-year ;)

pH
 
Congrats to Alchemist - I missed this one obviously - in fact, I missed all the writing challenges for September on this site and sffworld.com. Had to pull out a few miracles just to get the Sekrit Santa done.

Long story short, don't buy an HP laptop. Just stay away. I have something called an "Envy," and I think it's called that because I envy people who don't have one.
 
mine bloody one crashed too.. everything locked up in the harddrive. had to go and purchase a new computer ... then it wouldn't accept the stored files, so i had to jiggery pokery get a hard drive enclosure for the deceased remains and now if i want the files i have to hook it up and boot from that c- file, am backing it slowly onto usb's but it really doesn't like me. my sympathies sinister... and well deserved congratulations, alchemist.
 
I got the von Braun idea, Phyrebrat, but I couldn't work out when it was, to know what had been altered, as it were. The iceberg actually did make me think Titanic, but I assumed that was because I'd got the bloody ship on the brain!

Re my Titanic story, for those who might not know, the Marconi radio operators received and intercepted several ice warnings, but the two most important were never taken to the bridge because the operator was too busy -- if they had been seen by bridge officers, almost certainly the ship would have stopped and waited overnight as the nearby ship, Californian, was doing. By another tragic failure, which would have made a listening story itself, the operator on the Californian, had gone to bed leaving the wireless unmanned, so it never received the Titanic's SOS messages. If someone there had been listening, the death toll would have been a lot lower.

Phyrebrat said:
I find lately that I'm really tanking at the 75 worders; I thought Hex's combination of theme and genre were an inspired choice but I just couldn't synthesise the idea I wanted.
Click to expand...
Don't get dispirited. I think we all go through patches where the words don't come right, or people don't like what we've written. Hang in there. If you're worried, though, perhaps put a couple up in the "Improving..." thread and see if any suggestions might help.
 
Phyrebröt said:
Reel-to-reel was - I think - first invented in the 2nd World War by AGFA (perhaps Chrispy can correct me on this) which gave me another anachronism to add into the mix.
Click to expand...

You don't really want me to expound on the history of magnetic recording?

OK, it was more invented by AEG/Telefunken, with the tape developed by BASF (a subdivision of IG Farben, which was German, while Agfa were Belgian). The first tape machine was apparently functional in 1928, but the critical breakthrough – AC bias, so the tape (originally paper, impregnated more than coated with ferric oxide, later nitrate photographic base and other plastics) could cross the critical zero zone without hysteresis distortion wasn't developed until the second world war.

Hey, man, I could write a full length book about this stuff, and bore everyone to sleep.
 
crispy you forgot to mention about wire recording which was in use before tape recording. that was where you got the phrase from, wearing a wire. they had a wire that could record twenty minutes of sound wound into a watch case.
 
I didn't forget, young lady; I edited. Seriously, this is my specialist subject; I can talk about, or write about it for hours – wire recorders, optical sound crossfades and fade outs, Blatnerphones, engraving with a hot needle into wax-coated ribbons – I'm a thorough bore. So I did a minimalist description of the beginning of magnetic coated tape and the birth of the magnetophon, not a small historical encyclopaedia. ;)
 
I must admit that my entry missed a little on the listening portion. I got the idea of Judas stepping in and pretending to be Jesus to save him from being crucified. I figured back then, that there weren't pictures of people and maybe they just had a general description of someone so the guards could potentially be tricked.

Judas betrayed Jesus so in the end he sacrificed himself for his friend and spiritual leader.

I know that while many use the name Judas as a bad thing, I have heard the argument that if Judas hadn't betrayed Jesus, he never would have been sacrificed for his people. Through his sacrifice it is thought that the salvation of everyone who holds him in their hearts is created, thrusting them into heaven when their time is up.

No longer did the people have to sacrifice animals to their God, because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice.

I thought it would be an interesting take if Jesus had lived on for years. What else could he have done, and accomplished if he lived past his 30+ years ( I think )

It makes for a good debate if anything.

Also do you think that using religion in a story like this alienates a writer or does it more come down to how well it is written and comes across?
 
Thanks Victoria ( I am just working on being a writer and not quite a good one yet :) )
 
chrispenycate said:
I didn't forget, young lady; I edited. Seriously, this is my specialist subject; I can talk about, or write about it for hours – wire recorders, optical sound crossfades and fade outs, Blatnerphones, engraving with a hot needle into wax-coated ribbons – I'm a thorough bore. So I did a minimalist description of the beginning of magnetic coated tape and the birth of the magnetophon, not a small historical encyclopaedia. ;)
Click to expand...

Oh dear...the Blatnerphone makes me think of that gadget-wielding Gotham City superhero, Blatnerman...:)
 
Congratulations, alchemist! A well-deserved win. :)

Thanks for the mentions from Hex and The Judge, and a BIG thanks to alc for the vote.
Sorry I wasn't able to vote this time around. I've been minus internet for the last two and a half weeks. I'm back now, touch wood.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
chrispenycate October 2018 seventy-five word discussion thread Writing Challenges 335
Ursa major Discussion thread -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE May 2014 Writing Challenges 339
Hex Discussion Thread -- Seventy-five word writing challenge -- February 2014 Writing Challenges 299
Ursa major Discussion Thread -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- January 2014 Writing Challenges 360
Culhwch Discussion Thread -- SEVENTY-FIVE WORD WRITING CHALLENGE -- December 2013 Writing Challenges 303

Similar threads


Back
Top